The UN and aid organizations have begun providing polio vaccines to children in the central parts of Gaza, according to Moussa Abed, an official at the Gaza health authorities, to AFP.
In mid-August, a 10-month-old baby was diagnosed with polio – the first case in 25 years – after warnings that the virus had been detected in sewage water. The goal is now to give all children up to 10 years old in Gaza double doses of vaccine.
The WHO reports that Israel has agreed to a three-day "humanitarian pause" in the fighting in Gaza to allow aid personnel to start the vaccination.
The World Health Organization's (WHO) crisis chief Michael Ryan says that 1.26 million doses of the vaccine have been delivered to Gaza, with 400,000 additional doses on the way.